The Sunriver Nature Center has been an active, certified raptor rehabilitation facility since its early years.

The Sunriver Nature Center can best be described as the environmental conscience of Sunriver. Soon to celebrate 50 years, the organization and its resident naturalists have played an important role in steering the original real estate development into the environmentally sensitive community it is today.

The Sunriver Nature Center is the most obvious manifestation of the real estate developer’s pledge to strike a balance between commercial necessity and environmental concerns. Since its inception in 1968, the nature center has kept up with its original mission of “inspiring present and future generations to cherish and understand our natural world.”

The Sunriver Nature Center and Oregon Observatory campus sits on eight acres on the western edge of Sunriver. The property contains the Nature Center, Observatory, a small amphitheater, and the Pozzi building which includes offices and a meeting space.

With a man-made lake on the east side of the nature center, and the large meadow on the other side of River Road, the area offers up an expansive vista far removed from the hustle and bustle of Sunriver Village.

The nature center is home to Chuck and Gracie, the two trumpeter swans inhabiting the lake. They are free to roam the area, but have decided to make their home on the island. With the breeding season in full swing, Chuck is a bit aggressive in protecting Gracie from wild geese and humans.

“He usually settles down later in the season,” said Jennifer Curtis, manager of the Sunriver Nature Center.

Outside the center’s large panorama windows, birds are feeding from seed tubes hanging in the trees while bushy tailed squirrels are hunting for left-overs below. It is a tranquil setting that almost didn’t come to existence when real estate developers purchased the 5,000-acre meadow in the mid-1960s.

Once a hunting ground for indigenous Indian tribes, the area changed little until the late 19th Century when the Timber and Stone Law of 1878 encouraged settlers to claim the land in 160-acre parcels. The meadow became the home to several homesteads with pioneers who grazed their livestock on the land.

The first organized construction phase hit the area with the establishment of the U.S. Army Engineer Replacement Training Center Camp (ERTC) – or Camp Abbot – in the mid-1940s. After the Army decommissioned the camp in June 1944, the meadow reverted back to a more natural state.

It wasn’t until the early 1960s when the property again was considered for development. Prior to the involvement of real estate developers John Gray and Don McCallum, there was an earlier plan with a more traditional development approach.

Jay Bowerman, currently the head of research at the Sunriver Nature Center, remembers seeing the original plans for Sunriver.

“It appeared that they were simply going to subdivide the whole area and sell individual lots,” said Bowerman.

It was hardly an approach that would have taken Sunriver to where it is today. Encouraged to take a different approach presented by award-winning landscape architect Bob Royston and Portland biologist Jim Anderson, Gray committed to new plans for a residential community with a strong environmental commitment.

“Anderson was a naturalist who had spent time on the property back in the 1950s,” said Bowerman. “He had camped on the meadow so he knew the area well.”

No small amount of serendipity figured into the story. Anderson taught outdoor schools in Portland for OMSI. One of Gray’s children attended one of his classes.

In line with his commitment to build a nature-friendly community, Gray brought in Royston. He also named Anderson Sunriver’s first “Resident Naturalist,” and with that title came a small office and an area set aside for education and information.

The forerunner to Sunriver Nature Center, the “Ecologium” became an integral part of the overall master plan. The main mission for the one-man organization was to care for Sunriver’s fragile ecological system.

“Anderson had three main areas of responsibility,” explained Bowerman. “He was the environmental consultant to Sunriver Properties, Inc. He was also charged with running an outdoor recreation program for residents and guests of Sunriver, and in addition, he had environmental oversight of the community.”

Along the way to the half-century mark, the organization went through several major changes. Anderson left in 1972 and the “Ecologium” instead took root under the leadership of the second Resident Naturalist, Bowerman.

Originally envisioned as a department within Sunriver Properties Corporation, the Ecologium was spun off into a nonprofit organization in the early 1980s when the developer turned over the government of Sunriver to the homeowners. In 1983, the organization was established at its current location and also changed its name to Sunriver Nature Center.

“In order to allow us to successfully transfer from a privately funded organization to a nonprofit corporation, the developer provided a three-year financial commitment of $10,000 per year and a property to build our new Nature Center building,” said Bowerman.

“The current organization includes the Nature Center, Observatory, Research Department, Administration and the Second Tern Thrift Store,” explained Curtis.

In addition to Curtis, the Nature Center staff includes Lead Naturalist Kody Osborne who manages interpretive programs and outreach programs for area schools.

“We are hard-core nature nerds,” said Curtis. “We’re like kids in a candy shop.”

She turned her head toward Osborne and rhetorically asked, ““How many times have you seen me jump up and down with excitement when new creatures show up here?”

Osborne smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

“I have learned more working here for five years than I would in 20 years in a classroom setting,” said Osborne.

Open year around, the Nature Center has two distinct seasons. During the school year, the Nature Center offers field trips to local schools and outreach programs to K-5 classes. The Nature Center’s “traveling trunk” program is successful in classroom settings throughout Central Oregon.

When the school year wraps up in June, the Nature Center becomes a gathering place for inquisitive Sunriver homeowners and tourists alike.

“It is pretty quiet this time of the year, but in another month, as everything is starting to wake up after winter, we answer a lot of questions from the homeowners,” said Bowerman. “We field anywhere from two to 15 questions every day.”

Questions range from what to do with the seemingly abandoned fawn (nothing) to questions about which bird is nesting in their yards (take a picture and send it to the Nature Center’s staff for identification).

As winter moves into spring, and nature slowly wakes up, Sunriver homeowners are faced with increased activity outside their doors. That brings on even more nature questions.

“People want to know what they should do with the coyote with a limp, how to handle squirrels that are pulling the insulation out of their crawl space, the raccoons living underneath their hot tub, or bats roosting over the front door,” said Bowerman.

“We also help homeowners with suggestions about what kind of native plant species can be planted to enhance the natural landscaping,” added Curtis.

The staff at the Nature Center has grand plans for the future. The immediate goal is to build two outdoor bird enclosures in the center’s botanical garden. The long-range goals include the construction of five more raptor enclosures and, a brand new Interpretive Center in the vicinity of the current building, and an additional roll-off building at the Observatory.

The commitment to uphold the Nature Center’s mission takes a lot of staff plus a dedicated group of more than 170 volunteers.

“Money to run the Nature Center is coming from memberships, programs, donations, and grants and contracts with the Sunriver Resort and the Sunriver Owners Association,” explained Bowerman.

The other half of the operating budget comes from the Second Tern Thrift Shop located outside of Sunriver on Spring River road.

Bowerman stresses the fact that even though there have been major changes to the organization during the past half-century, the mission statement is still the same.

“We continue to have a close working relationship with the resort, which was the principal entity,” said Bowerman. “We are still responsible for the environmental oversight to the owner’s association.”

Outside the window, an American Goldfinch has a go at the bird feeder. The gray squirrel weaves in and out below, looking for morsels. Without the foresight of John Gray, his Resident Naturalists, and the Sunriver Nature Center, Sunriver, and the view out the window, may have looked completely different.